Patent Issued for Health insurance card digital wallet generation system and related methods (USPTO 11803870): Inmar Clearing Inc.

2023 NOV 21 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Raak, Alise (Winston-Salem, NC, US), filed on July 28, 2022, was published online on October 31, 2023.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11803870 is Inmar Clearing Inc. (Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “A health insurance card is a card that is typically used as proof of health insurance for a given insured. A typical insurance card may include the insured’s name, the name of the insured’s insurance company and contact information, such as a customer service phone number, email address and website. A typical insurance card may also include the type of insurance plan (e.g., HMO, PPO, etc.), and the insured’s identification or policy. A group number, copay information, and/or prescription benefits may also be included on the insurance card.

“A typical health insurance card is presented to a healthcare provider and/or prescription medication provider for processing of payment and/or verification of coverages. Payments to a healthcare provider or pharmacy may be processed based upon filing of claims under the insured’s name and policy and based upon information from the health insurance card.

“Sales of a particular product or service may be based upon how well that product or service is marketed to a consumer. One form of marketing or promotion is a coupon, typically in paper form, for a discount toward the product or service. Some coupons may be retailer specific, for example, only redeemable for the discount at a particular retailer, while other coupons may be product specific from a manufacturer and redeemable at any retailer.

“A coupon, while typically in paper form, may be in digital form and may be referred to as a digital promotion. A digital promotion may be selected or “clipped” via a mobile phone and saved to a digital wallet for redemption at a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, for example. A typical coupon is applicable to a given product and has a redeemable value that may vary based upon, for example, the quantity of a given item, brand of item, size of the product in terms of packaging, and/or the price point of the given item. A typical coupon may also be redeemable only at a given retailer and/or within a threshold time period. Other promotional terms may include companion product and purchase quantity requirements.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “A digital wallet generation system may include a user device associated with a given user and configured to acquire an image of a health insurance card associated with the given user. The health insurance card may have a unique identifier (UID). The digital wallet generation system may include a digital wallet server configured to generate a digital wallet for the given user based upon the UID, and communicate with a health insurance provider server associated with a health insurance provider to determine at least one of an available product and service provided by the health insurance provider for the benefit of the given user and paid by the health insurance provider based upon the UID. The digital wallet server may also be configured to generate a digital coupon having a redeemable value redeemable toward the at least one available product and service, and store the digital coupon in the digital wallet.

“The digital wallet server may be configured to obtain the image of the health insurance card and perform an optical character recognition to extract the UID, for example. The user device may be configured to perform an optical character recognition to extract the UID and communicate the UID to the digital wallet server, for example.

“The digital wallet server may be configured to cooperate with the user device to display a machine-readable code representative of the digital coupon for redemption at a point-of-sale (POS) terminal. The digital wallet server may be configured to cooperate with the health insurance provider server to validate the at least one of the available product and service prior to applying the redeemable value thereto, for example.

“The given user may have a retailer digital wallet associated with a given retailer, and the retailer digital wallet may have a retailer user identifier associated therewith. The digital wallet server may be configured to merge the digital wallet and the retailer digital wallet based upon the UID and the retailer user identifier so that the at least one of the available product and service is redeemable at the given retailer, for example. The digital wallet server may be configured to cooperate with the health insurance provider server to process payment for the at least one of the available product and service based upon redemption of the digital coupon, for example.

“A method aspect is directed to a method of generating a digital wallet. The method may include using a digital wallet server to generate a digital wallet for a given user associated based upon a unique identifier (UID) of a health insurance card. An image of the health insurance card may be obtained by a user device associated with the given user. The method may also include using the digital wallet server to communicate with a health insurance provider server associated with a health insurance provider to determine at least one of an available product and service provided by the health insurance provider for the benefit of the given user and paid by the health insurance provider based upon the UID, and generate a digital coupon having a redeemable value redeemable toward the at least one of the available product and service, and store the digital coupon in the digital wallet.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A digital wallet generation system comprising: a point-of-sale (POS) terminal associated with a given retailer; a user device associated with a given user and configured to acquire an image of a health insurance card associated with the given user, the health insurance card having a unique identifier (UID) for identifying the given user to a health insurance provider and for identifying at least one of an available product and service payable by the health insurance provider through an insurance claim; and a digital wallet server configured to obtain the image of the health insurance card and perform an optical character recognition to extract the UID, generate a digital wallet for the given user based upon the UID, the digital wallet for storing digital coupons redeemable toward products for purchase at the given retailer, communicate with a health insurance provider server associated with the health insurance provider to determine the at least one of the available product and service payable by the health insurance provider for the benefit of the given user based upon the UID, generate a digital coupon having a redeemable value redeemable toward the at least one available product and service, and store the digital coupon in the digital wallet for redemption at the given retailer so that the at least one available product and service that is otherwise payable via the insurance claim is payable at the POS terminal via the digital coupon, generate a unique digital coupon identifier (UDCI) associated with the redemption value and the corresponding at least one available product and service, and cooperate with the POS terminal to redeem the digital coupon at the POS terminal based upon the UDCI and similarly to any other digital coupon redeemable for another at least one product and service at the given retailer.

“2. The digital wallet generation system of claim 1 wherein the digital wallet server is configured to cooperate with the user device to display a machine-readable code representative of the digital coupon for redemption at the POS terminal.

“3. The digital wallet generation system of claim 1 wherein the digital wallet server is configured to cooperate with the health insurance provider server to validate the at least one of the available product and service prior to applying the redeemable value thereto.

“4. The digital wallet generation system of claim 1 wherein the given user has a retailer digital wallet associated with a given retailer, the retailer digital wallet having a retailer user identifier associated therewith; and wherein the digital wallet server is configured to merge the digital wallet and the retailer digital wallet based upon the UID and the retailer user identifier so that the at least one of the available product and service is redeemable at the given retailer.

“5. The digital wallet generation system of claim 1 wherein the digital wallet server is configured to cooperate with the health insurance provider server to process payment for the at least one of the available product and service based upon redemption of the digital coupon.

“6. A digital wallet server comprising: a processor cooperating with a memory to obtain an image of a health insurance card from a user device associated with a given user, and perform an optical character recognition to extract a unique identifier (UID), the UID for identifying the given user to a health insurance provider and for identifying at least one of an available product and service payable by the health insurance provider through an insurance claim, generate a digital wallet for the given user based upon the UID, the digital wallet for storing digital coupons redeemable toward products for purchase at a given retailer, communicate with a health insurance provider server associated with the health insurance provider to determine the at least one of the available product and service payable by the health insurance provider for the benefit of the given user based upon the UID, generate a digital coupon having a redeemable value redeemable toward the at least one of the available product and service, and store the digital coupon in the digital wallet for redemption at the given retailer so that the at least one available product and service that is otherwise payable via the insurance claim is payable via the digital coupon at a point-of-sale (POS) terminal associated with the given retailer, generate a unique digital coupon identifier (UDCI) associated with the redemption value and the corresponding at least one available product and service, and cooperate with the POS terminal to redeem the digital coupon at the POS terminal based upon the UDCI and similarly to any other digital coupon redeemable for another at least one product and service at the given retailer.

“7. The digital wallet server of claim 6 wherein the processor is configured to cooperate with the user device to display a machine-readable code representative of the digital coupon for redemption at the POS terminal.

“8. The digital wallet server of claim 6 wherein the processor is configured to cooperate with the health insurance provider server to validate the at least one of the available product and service prior to applying the redeemable value thereto.

“9. The digital wallet server of claim 6 wherein the given user has a retailer digital wallet associated with a given retailer, the retailer digital wallet having a retailer user identifier associated therewith; and wherein the processor is configured to merge the digital wallet and the retailer digital wallet based upon the UID and the retailer user identifier so that the at least one of the available product and service is redeemable at the given retailer.

“10. A method of generating a digital wallet comprising: using a digital wallet server to obtain an image of a health insurance card from a user device associated with a given user, and perform an optical character recognition to extract a unique identifier (UID), the UID for identifying the given user to a health insurance provider and for identifying at least one of an available product and service payable by the health insurance provider through an insurance claim, generate a digital wallet for the given user based upon the UID, the digital wallet for storing digital coupons redeemable toward products for purchase at a given retailer, communicate with a health insurance provider server associated with the health insurance provider to determine the at least one of the available product and service payable by the health insurance provider for the benefit of the given user based upon the UID, generate a digital coupon having a redeemable value redeemable toward the at least one of the available product and service, and store the digital coupon in the digital wallet for redemption at the given retailer so that the at least one available product and service that is otherwise payable via the insurance claim is payable via the digital coupon at a point-of-sale (POS) terminal associated with the given retailer, generate a unique digital coupon identifier (UDCI) associated with the redemption value and the corresponding at least one available product and service, and cooperate with the POS terminal to redeem the digital coupon at the POS terminal based upon the UDCI and similarly to any other digital coupon redeemable for another at least one product and service at the given retailer.

“11. The method of claim 10 wherein using the digital wallet server comprises using the digital wallet server to cooperate with the health insurance provider server to validate the at least one of the available product and service prior to applying the redeemable value thereto.

“12. The method of claim 10 wherein the given user has a retailer digital wallet associated with a given retailer, the retailer digital wallet having a retailer user identifier associated therewith; and wherein using the digital wallet server comprises using the digital wallet server to merge the digital wallet and the retailer digital wallet based upon the UID and the retailer user identifier so that the at least one of the available product and service is redeemable at the given retailer.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For additional information on this patent, see: Raak, Alise. Health insurance card digital wallet generation system and related methods. U.S. Patent Number 11803870, filed July 28, 2022, and published online on October 31, 2023. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11803870)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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